New Haven Printing Company Readies Wind Turbine

When the Driscoll brothers established Phoenix Press in an old brick factory at the confluence of the Quinnipiac and Mill rivers in the early 1980s, they never considered the wind.

But the gusts and zephyrs will soon bring them money — as much as $35,000 a year, by Brian Driscoll's estimate.

Brian and brother Kevin have been overseeing the installation of a 150-foot-high, 100-kilowatt wind turbine in a parking lot behind their commercial printing business, mere yards from the water. On Wednesday afternoon, a team of workers hoisted the distinctive, three-bladed rotor into its place, high above the Fair Haven waterfront.

Plainly visible to motorists passing over the Quinnipiac River Bridge along I-95, the Driscolls' wind turbine is by far the largest in Connecticut, according to the state's Clean Energy Fund, which provided a grant of more than $260,000 for the half-million-dollar project.

Smaller demonstration turbines — 5- to 10-kilowatt projects — are planned for noncommercial properties in Coventry, Lebanon, Meriden and New Haven, according to officials at the fund. A 150-kilowatt wind turbine project is also in the works at a farm in Torrington.

The Obama administration has made renewable energy a priority for the federal government, and its policies — plus money included in last year's economic stimulus programs — are expected to encourage both large-scale, offshore wind farms and smaller-scale, single-turbine commercial projects like that of Phoenix Press.

So far, relatively little federal stimulus money has made its way to wind turbine projects, according to Bob Chew, president of the wind business at Alteris Renewables, the Wilton company that installed Phoenix's turbine. Wind projects are competing with solar panels, fuel cells and other alternative energy devices.

"The wind energy industry is still in its early stages," Chew said.

Alteris has also designed and installed, or is installing, 100-kilowatt turbines in North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine.

Massachusetts already has single-turbine projects (as distinct from multiturbine wind farms) that can generate more than 1.5 megawatts of power — 15 times the power of the Phoenix Press turbine.

In Connecticut, the Driscolls are pioneers, small-businessmen trying to cut energy costs — now more than $100,000 a year — for their 40-employee company, which prints business cards, posters, manuals, user guides and other materials.

They also hope that the project will help the firm market itself to customers eager to do business with environmentally conscious partners.

"I'm trying to do the right thing, not only in my business life, but in my personal life," said Brian Driscoll, 58, the company president. He said he fishes aluminum cans out of wastebaskets to recycle them, heats his home with a wood-pellet stove and recently bought his first hybrid car.

About three years in the making, Phoenix's wind project will ultimately cost about $500,000, an amount roughly equivalent to 10 percent of the business's total annual revenues, Brian Driscoll said. Phoenix raised about half the money for its turbine from the state's Clean Energy Fund and financed the rest through a bank loan, he said.

Once the turbine starts generating power, anticipated next month, Phoenix plans to apply for federal grants to help pay down the bank loan.

The company hopes the investment will pay off within four years.

"Saving money is making money, in my opinion," Brian Driscoll said.

Phoenix bought its Northwind 100 wind turbine from Northern Power Systems of Barre, Vt., once a division of the former Distributed Energy Systems of Wallingford.

Alteris installed Phoenix's wind turbine in three days, starting with the 120-plus-foot tower on Monday and finishing Wednesday with the hoisting of the rotor and its blades, which each measure 27 feet. If not for inclement weather, the project could have been done in two days, Chew said.

In the morning, workers used a crane with a 170-foot boom to raise the nacelle, which holds the rotor, then, about 1 p.m., the rotor. Workers on the ground held the rotor in place with ropes as two workers in harnesses stood atop the tower to fix it in place.

If it all works out at Phoenix Press, the Driscolls' first wind turbine might not be their last.